The Climber...

She has a will, and she'll find a way...

... she spots her motivation (in the form of chocolate)...

... and goes in for the attack.

She would be why I don't ever get anything done.

The Bachelor

So I walk in the door from work and Whitney grabs the camera to show me a picture she took earlier in the day. I'm expecting a cute shot of Tess. Or Chase making a silly face. Maybe even a picture of Trey losing another loose tooth. Instead, it was the latest work of our eldest bachelor, Jack.

She didn't need to explain the picture. To know Jack is to know that this is his mind at work. I haven't asked him why he did this, and I won't. I prefer to just consider the possibilities.....

• Lazziness? -- obviously not. Way more work to make the note
• Sarcasm? -- doubtful. Not sure he understands the concept, yet
• Helpfulness? -- Whitney says no!
• Hygeine? -- strong possibility. Dirty underwear devastates him

In the end, I like to think he just applied what few man-law concepts he has learned (and probably observed, regretfully) and left himself a reminder for when he needs his next clean pair. Sort of genius, I think. He's well on his way to becoming an excellent bachelor.

Spring cleaning can be so emotional...

Ok, not really. It's actually quite refreshing. Tyler switched our garage over from Winter to Spring yesterday, which meant storing the snow blower, removing the dead mice that we didn't realize we'd caught, and clearing out the junk that had accumulated over the past few cold months. Tyler is an organizational genius, so it involved way more than that, but you get the idea (and now I'm off the hook if he actually reads this!).

Part of that junk? This old highchair. Almost nine years old to be exact. Tess recently moved into a booster seat, and we were happy to regain our floor space that the high chair has occupied, every day, since 2001.

Wow, we've been doing this baby thing for a long time.

I'm really anti-clutter. Trust me when I say that I love a good purging. And I'm even okay with getting rid of this baby stuff. I've dealt with those emotions already, and it feels good to love where we are in this stage of life. But as I packed up the high chair for good, I do have to say that I got a little emotional.

Four babies have eaten in this thing, from their first bites of rice cereal, to learning how to use a fork for the first time.

I've scrubbed crayon and paint off the tray more times than I can remember.

I've depended on it, combined with a trusty Baby Einstein video, as a means to get my shower many mornings.

I've ordered replacement cover after replacement cover from Graco to keep it going all these years.

And every once in a while, when I was busy cleaning up lunch, I would find a baby who couldn't hold out for naptime any longer...

... fast asleep.

Thankful for this man...

Tyler has been putting in some longer hours at work since the new hospital opened last week. Not as much as some dads have to put in on a regular basis, but enough that our kids have noticed. Since Tyler works the 1:30pm-10:00pm shift this weekend, we're on our own much of the day (I know the evening shift is only eight hours long, just the same as the day shift, so why, oh why, does it seem twice as long?!). The kids and I took advantage of the beautiful weather this afternoon and rode bikes and played outside, then ventured to Target, Arby's and the car wash tonight. Have I told you lately how much Tess despises the car wash? Woah. Anyway, fancy Saturday night, I know, but we were so giddy about the 50 degrees that it didn't matter where we went, as long as we spent it in and out of the sunshine.

On the way home Trey announced - in typical Trey/drama fashion - that he missed his dad. A lot. Then he went on about how it wasn't fair that the hospital was making him work all day when his kids were not in school and it was nice outside. How dare they! That got Jack going, and before I knew it, all three boys had joined in and together had come to the conclusion that Tyler should quit his job. Um... boys?!

So we talked the whole way home about how God has given Daddy this job and that we should be so very thankful for it. I tried to give a kid-sized version of the state of the economy, just to let them know that we will NOT complain about how God provides for our family, when so many others are without jobs.

Then we talked about their dad, and what a hard worker he is. Jack brought up the fact that he's helping sick people when he's away from us. Trey commented on how smart he is. And Chase, sweet Chase, wanted us all to know that Daddy shoots off rockets from the pharmacy, and when the rockets come back, they have suckers in them (um, I think he's getting the tube systems from the pharmacy and the bank a little mixed up!). I talked about how Daddy doesn't want to be away from us either, but he gladly goes to work to provide for our family ("Okay boys, start naming things that you have that cost money. Do you know where that money comes from?").

And Tess? Well, she's just glad to be done with the car wash.

All of that to say that we're thankful for this man who works so hard and sacrifices so much for us. I wish Tyler could have heard our conversation today, and how passionate these boys are about their daddy.

It's always good to find out that you've been missed.

Haircut time!

Ah, welcome March! For February being the month of love, we weren't exactly feelin' it with a surgery, a week long flu and the insanity of the opening of a new hospital. Good times. But who wants to dwell on that when we could be talking about a girl with a new 'do?!

This is Tess before her monumental first haircut a couple of weeks ago. It was long overdue, I must say. The mullet was winning, plain and simple. You can admit it along with me... I'm secure like that. :)

The problem is that the front of her hair just doesn't grow at the same pace as the back of her hair. Why this happens, I have no idea. So we waited and waited for her bangs to grow out, and they never did.

Thin, uneven, and a mullet on steroids.

When Tyler and I were broke and in college and just friends (don't fight me on this), he asked me to cut his hair. And even though I had never cut anyone's hair in my life, I agreed. Because that might have just been one more good excuse to hang out with him when I should have been studying. So we went to Wal-Mart and bought some clippers. We skipped watching the instructional video because how-hard-can-it-be-anyway, and I gave him the worst home-done haircut in the history of wanna-be dating couples. No lie.

But he lived through it, and even asked me to do it again (it would take three haircuts to get his money's worth for the clippers). Eventually I got better, and I've been cutting his hair ever since. Every month for the past sixteen years.

And I only forgot the clipper guard once. Impressive, huh?

So now three other boys get the privilege of meeting me in the master bathroom once a month for our salon dates.

Jack: Clippers in back and longer on top, being careful to cut very evenly, since his very straight hair is not very forgiving if you get it wrong. Style with molding clay for that dry, messy look.*

Trey: Clippers all over and keep it super, super short, or his coarse, thick hair will go into Chia-Pet mode. Style with Crew gel with a spike in the front. Oh, and don't forget to shave the uni-brow.*

Chase: Attempt the surfer look with a scissor cut only, and wonder every time if I really know what I'm doing. Feed him M & M's throughout the cut since it takes much, much longer than it should due to my cluelessness.*

*Repeat monthy until they get a clue that there may actually be cooler options out there other than their Mom...

(Our cute little beautician, who was probably 18 and had - literally - 15 brothers and sisters!

You don't think she feels smothered, do you?!)

So anyway, you can imagine my insecurity when it came to girl hair. I just couldn't cut it myself. She needed a style, not some best-guess attempt. So off to Cookie Cutters we went, and asked for the cutest little bob we could get for $9.99. Never a tear, thanks to the horn that beeped on her chair, and a sweet little video. I, however, was completely overbearing and annoying (hey, I'm a fake beautician, dontchaknow)...

Bobbed (and stacked!) in the back, and angled so it's longer in the front. Super cute!

What kid could not be completely distracted in this crazy place?!

We celebrated our first of many girl spa days with lunch at McCalister's afterwards. I originally thought we would go short on her hair just until her bangs grow out, but now I'm loving the look. We may just have to keep it (it kind of goes with her spunky attitude, I must say)!